I propose that natural-born Americans be allowed to sell their citizenship on eBay, on condition they quit the country forever. Buyers would have to pass a background and medical check, and would receive a green card convertible into citizenship in 10 years.

Sellers will probably clear at least $100,000. Assuming 5% interest, they will enjoy an annual income of $5,000, which should suffice to live comfortably in Panama, Costa Rica, or West Africa.

Companies will no longer have to worry about getting H1-B visas for key foreign staff from an uncaring bureaucracy. The reparations crowd will get what it wants. The American tired and poor will become the rested and middle class of their new domiciles. And the country will get a fresh injection of the successful and ambitious; in fact, I expect banks to lend green-card-purchase money to these people in the same way banks offer automatic school loans to entrants at top business schools.

Sound like a crazy idea? What's wrong with a trial run of 10,000 transactions?